“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses –behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights”-Muhammad Ali

At the orientation, Sir Nadeem showed us a video of a footballer asked by his coach to carry a 150 pound teammate on his back across 100 yards. The footballer at first protests to his coach that he would not be able to do it, but blindfolded, yard by yard, he reaches 100 before he is able to realize. I do not know how much of a difference these videos made to most of us, or how seriously anyone took them. But to me, they are how I have come to define myself. Nixor College has taught me how to push myself further than ever before, embrace the fatigue that comes with working harder as satisfaction, and make that satisfaction the reward for all that I have strived to achieve, not what I have achieved itself. The biggest obstacle to success is self doubt, and the only way to conquer self doubt sometimes is to blindfold yourself and set forth, with full knowledge that the application of one’s self is all that is pivotal to success.

Nixor gives us the opportunity to be remembered. I have heard a great deal about my A3s and A4s from my A2s, stories that I will pass onto my juniors. Without having been at Nixor before this summer, I feel like I have been part of the fabric of this community for years. I know that I will talk about my seniors in much the same way as my seniors talk about theirs, and my only incentive to work for the community is that one day I too can be remembered as a man who made a difference to the community.

One of the most astonishing things about Nixor is how quickly it envelopes us into its culture. Very soon, the school’s achievements are our achievements, the past is our past, and the future is our future. There is no ‘me’ in the Nixor community, everything is ‘us’.

A lot is said about Nixor by others, and a lot of that is not praise. But the only way to avoid criticism is to do nothing, change nothing, and be nothing. We stand as pioneers in our field, revolutionizing the way education is perceived, changing the incentive from achieving a good transcript to earning respect. Nobody is perfect, and at Nixor we are not taught to glorify or exalt ourselves. Instead, we are groomed and encouraged to search within, and search hard. No Shark can remain an untapped resource, and no Shark can attribute failure to self doubt. Ever. Because we know that there are miles to go before we can dance under those lights.